


i'd give up forever to touch you

by AnnCherie



Category: Stumptown (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23073436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnCherie/pseuds/AnnCherie
Summary: Dex is near fatally shot during a case gone wrong. Grey is there to keep her breathing, waiting as she heals. Always waiting.
Relationships: Grey McConnell & Dex Parios, Grey McConnell/Dex Parios
Comments: 11
Kudos: 50





	i'd give up forever to touch you

“Dex!  _Dex_!” Grey yells as he runs over, Hoffman only giving him one confirming glance before continuing to run after the criminal.

Somehow she’s lucky enough that she's shot close enough to a wall, if considered luck, and he props her up more as he surveys the bleeding. Bright red and spurting. Fuck. “Hey, Dex, are you with me?”

There’s a waver in his voice that isn’t usually there, but he’s never seen her with an arterial injury. He'd taken a secret CPR class when she started to come back to his bar with more and more work-related injuries; but other than immediately calling the paramedics he felt helpless.

At first he uses her wool jacket to cover the rhythmic blood loss, applying as much pressure as he can despite her groans.

“I’m with you,” she says, but she’s  barely  coherent and his stomach has dropped.

“Okay, good,” he tells her. “Good. Let’s keep you conscious, okay? Stay with me.”

Her groan is sarcastic at least. “Tell me something shocking.”

“Uh, okay,” he fumbles. “...Ansel asked me questions about sex the other day.  I think  he’s serious about this Lila girl.”

Opening her eyes quite larger, even if still affected, she scoffs. “Are you kidding me? What’d you tell him?”

“Oh, nothing.” Grey tries to laugh. “Told him Google was his friend.”

“You told him to Google it?” She huffs, but it’s low pitched in a way it wouldn’t usually be.  Usually she’d be yelling at him, angry and protective of her little brother no matter how Grey tried to mediate their relationship.

Right as he goes to explain, her eyes begin to flicker and close and the jacket's soaked in blood.  Quickly  shrugging his off, he adds additional layers to the wound and tries not to panic more. She’s bleeding out, here in the outside of a warehouse, and he can’t do enough to stop it. “Dex, come on. Open your eyes. Stay awake, okay?”

Nothing more than a groan in response, he shakes her arm and her eyes open enough. Swallowing his fear, he speaks. “Look you can’t leave me, okay? I have a whole lifetime that needs your judgy attitude.”  Weakly, he adds, “I still have things I need to tell you."

“Tell me now,” she manages.

“Absolutely  not,” he scoffs. “No way. You survive this first and then you’ll get to know, got it?”

“Grey,” she asks, her voice emotional. Blue eyes that he thinks about a little too often manage to peak at him. “Please.”

“I can’t.” He starts, his throat tightening so much that he can hardly breathe, let alone speak. His eyes had wet long before this, but the tears he couldn’t help but want to hide were falling now. “Dex, I don’t want to do it like this.”

“Now.” Whatever's left of her voice now is firm, and she’s holding on enough to make sure she hears him. How can he say no? Roughly through his constricted voice, he manages to  softly  say, “I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you for so long I can’t even remember when it started. I put you above everyone, without even noticing. I love you so much I couldn’t run away after being under cover; I couldn’t commit to anyone else. Not  just  for Ansel, but for _you_ , Dex.”

She nods, pulling on him with her hand. He kisses her forehead and the paramedics finally arrive.

* * *

Against many odds, she survives. She’s in the hospital for two weeks;  constantly  complaining and trying to leave. _Despite_ how much the nurses, doctors, Hoffman, and he and Ansel tell her to shut up and heal. Suelynn visits.  Grey nods at the woman when she leaves, wanting to tell her off for how much she had messed Dex up, but that’s her place and not his. Still, he glares once her back  is turned.

Today Dex is back in the hospital bed after having walked too much around the hospital and reopening her wound.  Grey and her are in a contest of who can glare best, with her acting haughty about being "fine", and him angry she's so stubborn. Ansel was gone getting coffee for her. Grey had convinced him it was something Dex loved, and even though her brother wanted to hover he went to do the chore.

“You realize you’re  just  going to stay here longer if you keep this up, right?” He tells her, a little more chastising then he should.

“You realize you’re going to lose your bar if you keep babysitting me, right?” She snaps back, her lips pursed in that pouty way that only she manages.

“Tookie has it covered,” he retorts. “And since you’re worrying Ansel to the point of an ulcer,  I think  babysitting  is justified.”

Dex looks down at her hands now, fumbling with the white hospital blanket. “I want to get out of this place already, it’s horrible. I hate it.”

“You don’t hate the hospital.” Grey laughs. “You hate  being told  what to do.”

Quirking the corners of her lips against her will, she smiles. Glancing back up, she softens and it’s clear their not-really-a-fight is over. “You don’t have to stay here, Grey. You look like you haven’t slept in weeks.”

“I haven’t.” He admits, then wishes he had said almost anything else as her gaze turns analytical.  Reluctantly, he continues. “I watched you all but die in my arms. Not exactly a relaxing time in my life.”

She nods, and her blanket once again seems interesting to her. “I’m sorry. I know what that feels like.”

_Fuck_ , he didn’t mean to trigger her like that and he’s cursing himself. “Shit, Dex, I’m sorry, I--,”

“It’s okay,” she says, clearing her throat and nodding. Blue eyes turn on him once more. “You’re right. I shouldn’t push you away after that.”

“I get it,” he says. “I’ll always be here.”

“I know.” Tears are welling in her eyes and his chest is tightening in response. “That’s the thing. You’re always here, even after we have the worst fights. You’ve never left. And I-- God, I  just  have never wanted to mess that up, you know? I’m always worried that one day you’re going to leave for good. That I inflict too much chaos.”

Grey shakes his head, still hating himself for the horrible words. Resentment had gotten the best of him that day, for so many reasons that were no excuse, and he wishes he could say things  differently. “Look, I was completely out of line when I said those things. I don’t want to give some bullshit apology but I am sorry.”

She sighs. He adds, “And you don’t inflict chaos anymore, Dex. You’ve changed the past few months in ways I couldn’t have expected. This job has been so good for you. ...Not including recent events.”

With a small chuckle at the reference, she nods. “Uh, thank you.  I think .”

“You’re welcome,” he laughs in return. “ I think.”

They watch each other  carefully, both edging to the conversation Grey is starting to think she remembers, but Ansel is back with coffee and she’s grinning at her brother. Things can wait. He’ll always wait.

* * *

“Can you spare a minute?”

She’s leaning in the doorway of his office, only a few days fresh out of the hospital. The doctor, Grey, Ansel, and Hoffman had made her promise not to take on a case for another month.  Grey had even managed to pay one month of her rent with the increase of money Tookie’s event planning had given them in a firm way to make her comply .

She’d already taken another case.

He sighs, gesturing for her to come in, and he’s only a little surprised when she shuts the door behind her. “Is this about the rent thing? Because yeah, I’m a little pissed. You owe me.”

They both know he won’t follow through. She smirks and he both wants to throw his pen at her and kiss her smug face all at the same time.

“Not quite.” She says, and before she can get serious, he interrupts her. “This better not be about the case you took behind everyone’s back then.” Her mouth opens but he adds, “Or me refusing to have the sex talk with Ansel.”

“Also not that.” Dex sighs, but follows up with a cheeky eyebrow raise. “Are you done guessing so I can talk?”

He shares a brief smile with her and nods before she sobers. “I, um… I remember what you said to me. After I  was shot .”

“I figured,” Grey tells her. “Look, it’s not-- I don’t expect you to say anything in return. I  just  needed to fulfill a dying wish.”

Even though he had thought she might, she doesn’t acknowledge the last part with a facial expression.  “I’ve been thinking ever since I was finally conscious in the hospital, through the pain meds and all; that I couldn’t believe you actually felt something for me .”

“What?” he exclaims, too surprised to censor himself. “How-- how on earth did you not see it?”

“I--,” she stumbles, looking a little off guard by his strong comeback. “We’ve fought more than a few times the past few months. You’ve dated and had feelings for other women and were happy with them. I guess I’ve always had this fear that our friendship continued because of Ansel.”

“They should take away your private investigator license,” he tells her, and she gives him a glare that he can’t help but smile at. “Maybe  the first few months we met it was more about finding that connection with someone who didn’t judge me. I didn’t exactly have sober reformed criminal friends back then. But it changed over the next few months, then the next few years. We both were never in the same head space for it though, and I was never sure if you felt the same way. Especially after Hoffman entered the picture.”

Dex shakes her head. “You know, I turned him down.”

“He told me,” Grey responds, and her eyebrows raise in surprise. “Ironically  I was there that night anyway. Liz and I broke up and she gave me a speech about how you’d always be in the way of me trying to have a new relationship. You let him in and I left.”

“Dodged that bullet?” she asks, but it isn’t the same funny line. It’s a question this time, wondering if they were actually going to cross the line after six years.

He sighs and tries to bring humor in. “Well actually you got hit with the bullet, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation yet anyway.”

Rolling her eyes, she huffs. “Grey, come on.”

“No.” He says firm. “I told you everything, you can do what you want with it. I’ve been more or less waiting and trying to move on for years. It’s your turn.”

“I’m not  really  good with words,” she replies, walking over to his desk. When he stands, Dex kisses him, and it’s fervent in ways that make his skin light on fire.  Six years of pining, of holding back, of  quietly  hoping one day things would change and the stars would finally align all came to crush him at once as he touches her lips  .  Some part of him thinks he should pull back, that they should talk, but that adult part of him drowns as soon as she starts unbuttoning his shirt. They find his office couch quite useful.

When things finish, marks made on each other out of trying not to alert the entire bar to what they were doing, she doesn’t pull away from laying on his chest as soon as possible. There’s something intoxicating about her naked skin on his and even more that he can feel her breathing. The surgery scars she’s trying to hide against him don’t miss his view, but he’s never been so grateful to see them.

“Well,” Dex says  slowly,  clearly  trying to feel things out. “Crossed the line.”

“Crossed the line.” Grey reaffirms. “Regrets?”

“No,” she says, looking up at him. Eyes that give way to complicated emotions, she asks, “You?”

He shakes his head. “No.”

“What next?” she asks.

“This time you use your words.” He grins at her, and she sighs while smiling before kissing his neck. His eyes flicker with content, but he tries to hold on. “Second round can come later.”

“Fine,” Dex replies, reluctant. There’s still a smile on her lips, and for a moment he can’t believe that this is what caused it. “You know that wish I made? With the cake and all?”

“I’m familiar.”

Minutely  shaking her head at the banter with a smile, she continues. “I wished for this.”

“Sex?” he laughs, and she slaps his chest. Offended, she scoffs. “No, asshole. This. Us. Something stable that I can actually rely on. You-- you fit into my life in ways that I can’t replicate, you know?”

“I know,” he says, kissing her forehead, unable to  playfully  add, “And I’m hot.”

Rolling her eyes, she compliments him with a smirk. “And you’re hot. ...I guess.”

He shoves her arm and she giggles in a way he’s not sure he’s heard before, something between vulnerable and sexy. He gives into kissing her once more. In time he’d hear the actual three words he had given her, but he knows she’ll need him to show he won’t leave now that things were romantic as well. And in the meantime, he’ll wait, this time with much more certainty.

* * *


End file.
